Ashton Kutcher explores the pursuit of perfection in ‘The Beauty’

“I got a heads-up on the character I was playing … and every time you get a screenplay you’re going, ‘What is this this?’” Ashton Kutcher says. “There were a couple of times I turned to my wife and said, ‘I have to normalize this. I have to justify this. I have to get to the point where I can approach this and not be afraid of it.’”

In the new limited series, “The Beauty,” Kutcher plays a tech billionaire who’s behind a sexually transmitted disease that makes those infected physically beautiful. There are side effects, however, and a cavalcade of characters get to see how it all works.

Jeremy Pope, who plays an overweight man intrigued with the results, got one of those Ryan requests.

“I know when I’m doing a Ryan project, I’m going to be asked to do some unimaginable things,” Pope says.

Likewise Rebecca Hall, who plays an FBI agent investigating the case with her partner, played by Evan Peters.

“When he described the situation of a supermodel walking down the runway and then ending in an explosion, I thought that was the most delightfully preposterous and funny thing I’d ever heard of,” Hall says. “I couldn’t imagine who was not going to watch it.”

Peters, who starred in Murphy’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” knew those early discussions would be “just enough to get you sign on.” And, then, there’s more. Like? Speaking in several languages. Peters does so in “The Beauty” and pulls it off, even though he learned enough just to look believable. “I could speak a little French, but I’d have trouble saying that to a French-speaking individual,” Peters says.

Anthony Ramos, who plays a character called “The Assassin,” has to wear an eye patch that had to be glued onto his face. “I do have one scene without any of the sticky stuff on it and it was dicey,” Ramos says. “We had to shoot it a couple of times because it kept falling out.”

Pope’s surprise: fighting in the nude. “Fighting in the nude is pretty wild,” he says.

Because “The Beauty” has plenty to say about the desire for perfection — and the lengths actors, models and others will go to achieve it — there were plenty of discussions about those demands.

“What the show is trying to say is individuality — and the thing that makes you unique — should be celebrated and amplified,” Peters says. “That’s a theme in a lot of Ryan Murphy shows. It’s empowering.”

Kutcher, who was a model before hitting it big with “That ‘70s Show,” knows how producers and agents can focus on looks.

“I remember modeling when I was 19 and 20 and going in the room and going, ‘There’s nothing I could have done. They just don’t like the way I look.’ But in the entertainment industry, there are other variables at play,” Kutcher says.

Auditioning for a movie part is more difficult, Kutcher says, because “it’s a mental warfare you have to play with yourself: ‘Did I not get the role because, aesthetically, I don’t look like the character that the director envisions, or did I not get the role because they don’t like my performance?’

“Sometimes you don’t get any feedback whatsoever and you start questioning if it was your performance and you start developing insecurity. One thing you can’t bring to the table as a performer is insecurity,” he says.

Kutcher struts throughout “The Beauty” and shows a side of the "One Percent" that’s troubling.

Hall’s and Peters’ characters move in on the operation he’s running and discover what’s behind it.

The pursuit of beauty isn’t new, Hall insists. “You go all the way back to Greek myths and there are a lot of stories” that look at the subject. “Body horror” pictures like David Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers” and “The Fly,” predate “The Substance,” a recent example. “It’s additive,” she says.

“The Beauty” features plenty of shocking scenes — ones you might not expect. “When we’re doing it,” it’s not creepy, Hall says. “But when I watch it (on screen), it looks creepy.”